


Overture: Polar Worlds

by Seraph_Years, Silver Blue (Seraph_Years)



Series: Disjointed Misc. [2]
Category: Overture (2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dimension crossing, Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:56:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 6,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Seraph_Years, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Silver%20Blue
Summary: Set in an alternate universe, the Polar Worlds are Taylor's discoveries while seeking adventure in the world of the Cross Passing. The people and places he goes are marvelous and intriguing...
Series: Disjointed Misc. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146623





	1. Polar World 1A: Conquest, Reprisal, and a Fall from Grace

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Overture: Book 1](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113425) by [Silver Blue (Seraph_Years)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Silver%20Blue). 



> Continues from this Benchmark: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359827/chapters/67624441

Dora then springs through the cloudy heavens themselves to confront the Creator. Blocking her ascent was Taylor, who arrived to see her annihilate Zootopia. Knowing that there was no fixing what had been done, he arrived to see her done for.

"Out of my way. I require the presence of Lord Byron." Dora says.

"You don't require anyone's presence. If you destroy everyone in this current universe, it will cease to function!" Taylor explains.

"When the Creator is destroyed, the one who killed him will take his spot. I will then conquer this world with my array of fantasy creatures! I will finish what Frostbite once started two years ago...!"

"Then let me be the one to shield him from your wrath."

Dora fires a ball of ice at Taylor, only for the feline to kick it up in the air and pierce it with a sword. The blade splitting the hail in two, he grabs it and spins it so that he can properly hold it. Dora rushes at Taylor, attempting to launch an attack. However, a barrier Taylor consciously conjured blocks Dora from reaching him. She continues to try to break through the shield, to no effect.

"If you knew how powerful I truly was, you would turn tail - or lack thereof - and run back to that little capsule you came from," Taylor says with a knowing smile.

"How did you know what I did here?"

Taylor taps at his head, indicating his omniscience upon arrival to a new world.

"Now, will you do me a favor and reverse everything you did to that poor planet? Oh wait, you cannot do that, you poor excuse of a demon. You lack a tail. You cannot count to ten. You can't even break through my barrier!"

"....!" Dora could only manage silence, being totally outmaneuvered. 

Taylor snaps his fingers. The Pink Image Card, depicting Athena's profile shot appears in the background. Dora could only look at it in fear as her distracted conscious allowed Taylor to pierce her through six sides with Sword Dance. The blades embed themselves in her body, locking her in place.

"Ipsum mundum esse Ne tangere." Taylor chants in Latin. It means "Do not let your mere essence touch this world." He says this as he Junctions another Image Card to his arm, letting him unleash the [Tangent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangent) Blade, which cuts Dora so sharply that the atoms between her bisected body no longer exist. 

Taylor concludes his one-sided fight by releasing the arena, letting Dora's fallen remains tumble down the expanded universe.

Taylor overlooks the new worlds as he says softly:

_"The Polar Worlds. So distinct, yet so marvelous. If I can save just one of these, imagine what I can do to the rest of these poor planets. As someone so powerful, I believe I am capable of being the savior. But what problems do they have, and how can I solve them? Perhaps I shall take the mantle of Odysseus himself and go on... what do they call them? Oh yes.  
  
_ _An odyssey."_


	2. Polar World 3A: Entry Points and Where to Access Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Entry Point] (1) n. A place where a person or thing can enter a location.
> 
> (2) n. A ripple in space that allows those that are able to enter another plane of existence, where rules don't exist.

Entry Points are relics of the entire universe. Able to summon those who choose to use them into another plane of existence where rules no longer matter, they have been exploited for millennia for personal gain. The loopholes of the mind are the Entry Point's bread and butter, seeing as how the whole point of breaking one open is to journey through the desires of the heart and fish for gratification.

Taylor is one of those subjects that can use Entry Points. He liberally travels through the Hexagon Foundation - which has its own Polar World - in search of said Entry Points. The loops that form the room chains the Foundation is made of aren't just for Magic Posters. Said Posters contain these valuable ripples in space, and Taylor's special ability is to animate these Posters with the Entry Points. Doing this, he sometimes accelerates his power potential, boosting his strength and speed in battle. Other times, he's dragged inside the Entry Point and forced to fight what he amuses himself with. This being Taylor, however, he sees no problem with it. His strongest basic attack, the Kitty Lasers, can annihilate an Image Monster in seconds. Kitty Lasers are feline-themed Cherubim Magnets that rip through enemy defenses as a blue thunderbolt of cat magic. Taylor sees them as his pride and joy, stopping at nothing to use them in times where he feels like that it's all he has left.

And sometimes it is.

Taylor went up the cliff face, about to break open the last Entry Point. As he waves his arms around attempting to view the inside of said Point, another Synth appears from a thunderbolt. He conjures all seven Entry Points that Taylor last used and destroys them all in one quick swipe.

"So, where do you expect me to find new Entry Points?" Taylor asked, not too fond of the visitor's feat of destruction.

"We Synths, the "angels of death" you so call us, are designed with the express purpose of culling all manners of corruption. We are merely trying to save your well-being before it dries up. My name is Litton, Second-Class Officer of--"

"The producers that hired you mean nothing to me. As long as you put on a good show, I'll gladly reattend with vigor." Taylor responds.

"Excellent. Promise me you won't open them back up, even if you accidentally find a new one. The Angels of Death will know." Litton responds.

Rather short for a Synth, he wears predominantly dark clothes, has black hair and black eyes, and in general just exudes a "shadowy" look about himself. Fittingly, he, like Lenna, treats Entry Points and other vias of corruption as unredeemable monsters. Synths like him seek to slay whatever and whoever emerges from such places.

His next target is a giant monster of an Entry Point named "Apan-teuctli".

"We all gave them the names of foreign deities to emphasize how powerful they are as Wayward Symbols," Litton explains.

"What's a Wayward Symbol?"

"They are powerful entities that manifest from Entry Points when you Extract one."

"Like a ZIP file?"

"Extract. With a capital E. It's a process where you reveal the true form of an Entry Point, and that's when the monster shows up. You could call us.... Monster Hunters."

"...."

"Let's get to work!"


	3. Polar World 3B: Apan-teuctli

The two venture to the field's midst

And Litton breaks the Entry Point open.

Taylor spins the magic wheel required to extract it

And out appears the monster from its skin.

Apan howling in pain, Litton takes the opportunity

To dart for weak points all over its body.

Taylor, sitting back watching his comrade fight

Cracks whatever equivalent he has to knuckles

ANd says "Let me handle this, Litton."

"What do you have to offer on the battlefield?"

"More than you might think."

Taylor enters Apan-teuctli and sees himself inside of a director's studio.

A chair, a bed, and a cat with big ears.

"Why's everyone gotta look like me?" Taylor asks.

"You are misled into thinking your design is the perfect model."

"I want answers still."

"You're not going to get them standing there."

"Then how about we have a little performance? The first one to make our audience cheer makes it out of here!"

Taylor activates Viewpoint Form - his clothing for Entry Point fights - and hovers over the arena.

A cloud of space junk overlaying an orange sea of sky.

The feline adversary advances toward Taylor with a knowing attitude.

Taylor brandishes the Tracker Blade - a thought-to-be lost relic - and repels all of the enemy's assaults.

"Your dancing is sloppy. You had all the rehearsal time in the world."

"Not my fault you're blocking everything I do."

"Because I'm the choreographer."

Taylor then masterfully throws his Keyblade at the enemy

And spins around him as to confuse him.

"And now that your trajectory is thrown off..."

He catches the key and performs a leaping cut.

Back in an alternate Tesseract, Litton is attempting to solve a multicolored cube.

Taylor bursts out of the other plane of existence tossing a weakened monster into one of the arches. 

With a massive cut from an unrelated blade, the beast is bisected from the head down.

"SO crazed for desire, they forget about the weakness in their hearts..."

Litton is so surprised that he runs out of words.

Taylor calmly walks back inside the other world and activates another Entry Point in peace.


	4. Polar World Z1: A Twist of Tides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by this: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/412767256469176322/781946670161199144/de94cj1-e3e4dab7-3490-4caa-89ed-477a5692df0a.png?width=301&height=422

1993, Zootopia.

It was here that Taylor took a trip to alleviate his boredom. Going inside the building that held that fateful encounter, he waited by the steps and watched the young mammal's steps closely.

Those meaningful words echoed in his head as he counted his blessings.

"Raise your right paw..."

Taylor closed his eyes, not wanting to know what would happen next. But, alas, his mere presence ignited something in the young one's heart!

Countering the shove, Nick swiped the muzzle, attacked the woodchuck with it, and valiantly restrained him with it. The other three Rangers attempted to get involved, but Nick drove them back with a mysterious wind. Entering a fighting stance, he lifted up the zebra Ranger and did a flying backdrop, surprising the two other standing bullies.

Taylor, suddenly interested, recorded the whole matter by lightly pressing his fingers up against his head, scanning the perimeter. He could see that Nick was using a special apparatus called the Command Dial to make his decisions in battle. Interested in this development, he continues to gather data.

The wildebeest Ranger could no longer move after one Impact Shot (force projectile), and the only standing Ranger left was too scared to even approach the brave fox.

"This is the wildest dream come true!" Taylor whispered as he exited the premises to show the rest of the Singularies what he found.


	5. Polar World 1C: Cat Concerto

In Taylor's free time, he takes a trip to the end of the labyrinth. The white walls are contrasted by the flashy end-of-level door, blocked by the multicolored body of the next world's guardian, Frequency Feline.

"Well, time to stretch my legs and break yours." Taylor casually taunted.

The enemy attempts to assault Taylor with a hail of arrows, but the other feline teleports out of the way.

"This is where you are wrong!" Taylor shouts from beyond the alternate plane of existence.

Warping back to the main universe, he retaliates with a gigantic tattoo-like pincer from his normal paw. He grabs Frequency with it and slams her against the wall, breaking her neck with one move.

"Being godlike has its perks."

Taylor puts his pincer away and walks into the door, not paying attention to the bloodstained wall lining the guardian's carcass.

"A literal city of felines. Non-anthropomorphic ones, at that. If this is an alternate Zootopia, I'll be."

He couldn't have said it better. Every corner had at least one walking the asphalt. Overlooking the entire city was a large, glowing tower that showed at least three screens displaying all kinds of things about the world of the most relaxed--

"Hang on! Who told you to put those two words together? Enough with the exposition, I'll try and figure out a way into the main district myself. This is just where all the lower-class mammals hang out at."

Taylor runs forward, takes the next left, and finds himself in a bar populated with at least four different breeds, if not more.

"A bar? You'd think cats were lactose-tolerant!"

Indeed, if they must drink, they mustn't drink a whole lot. The upstairs looked pretty convincing, so Taylor decided to ascend the steps. Up there he found an entire dance room. Sure enough, there were cat toys everywhere sprawled on the ground. Being above such childish concepts, Taylor continued walking, being careful not to step on any residents. 

Then one more-than-crazy passerby lunges at Taylor. This being Taylor, he makes himself invisible so as to make the atrocious attacker miss and hit the wall. Carrying a continual air of innocence, Taylor undoes his invisibility and hides behind the wall, peeking just a bit at the door behind him to see everyone lunge at the crazed resident and start a literal--

"No cat puns. I was promised this entering Cat Concerto." Taylor interrupts.

Harmonic meowing fills the air of the main district, where Taylor's midway point just happens to land before. He would directly jump there, but his fear of landing on even one resident urges him not to do it. Instead, he aims his leap directly at the tower, with the passerby too distracted to notice his ascent.

"Domestic Shorthair. Abyssinian. Siamese. Savannah. Egyptian Mau, Bombay. Maine Coon, Sphynx, British longhair. Burmese, Chantilly-Tiffany, Chartreux..."

Taylor turns around and eyes his opponent, who matches the next species they both say.

"Bengal!"

"Did I get it right?"

"Who do you think you're looking at right now?"

"....Exactly the kind of anthropomorphic challenger that I'd--"

Reaper, the Bengal in question[1], kicks Taylor away and attempts to scratch him multiple times. They are hanging off the edge of the gigantic tower, so Taylor worries that the population would see them fight.

Taylor still has his arms up, so he takes the time to kick Reaper away and dash-choke her into the nearby (non-existent) wall. This takes them to a small corner of the city where a witch once fought a legion of angelic enemies. This as he throws her away.

"You would be a better contestant with guns!" Reaper shouts as she brandishes two of her own.

"Sorry, not a good fit for me," Taylor says. "I got my own bare paws to keep me busy."

"Be a good fit for these two."

Reaper fires her guns. Taylor doesn't even move a muscle and yet the bullets rotate around him harmlessly.

"Good. Exactly what I expected from the Nascent Singularity." Reaper comments.

Just before the bullets fly her way, the _jeu de jambes fugace de chat_ [2] enables her to quickly move out of the way and fire another hail of death metal.

"Time, stand still!"

Taylor's incantation freezes time, and with it...

"Surround yourself with the cold!"

Ice clumps the size of baseballs forms around Reaper.

"Now you may rest."

" _Pas par ma main!_ "[3] Reaper shouts as she has a clone appear from the wall, surprising Taylor as he reappears. She takes on the body of said clone, seeing no more use of her main body.

"You almost had me!"

"Thanks, Einstein."

Taylor summons a Kitty Magnet - a type of vertical energy beam powered by a sacred cat - right there in her spot, levitating her.

"Some Old Hippy Caught Another Hippy Tripping On Acid."

"What does that mean?!"

"Some Old Horses Can Always Hear Their Owners Approaching. When I split your triangle in half, there will be no more angles. No more ways to run a free city!"

"I don't even own Cat Concerto!"

"Then why were you here waiting for me?"

"Because I'm someone you might know well."

Taylor lets go of the Cherubim Magnet as they return to Cat Concerto's tower.

"You were testing my strength?"

"Could you not tell I was holding back? The guns were real, but my fighting style stands the test of time!"

"Great. To divide your strength into two equal parts... You weren't trying to match my true potential. The potential to solve x for 12x = 144!"

"Of course not. I'm one of your art teachers. No wonder you couldn't kill me."

"Canvas, was it? That just multiplies my knowledge. I didn't think you were this good."

"I'm based on... actually, let me hold that back. You could draw all the cats in this shelter and earn yourself a trip to the Artists' Guild."

"A shelter, huh? Quite some shelter."

"It was created by an avid cat lover. His name is Province."

"Describe him to me."

"Okay, he's this wolf in a black cloak..."

  
Taylor's surprised expression throws her off for a second. Before she has a chance to speak, Taylor warps back to Zootopia, eager to report his new discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: All reference to real persons and their avatars, living or dead, is purely coincidental and only serves to drive the story.
> 
> 2\. EN: cat's fleeting footwork
> 
> 3\. EN: "Not by my hand!"


	6. Polar World 3X: Continual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Influence
> 
> To have an effect on something or someone.

Taylor wakes up in a mysterious building holding an unactivated beam sword. He immediately activates it and notes how cool it looks. Complimenting his godlike powers, he hopes he can merge some of that into the Influence to get all four points activated and achieve the next level of being.

As soon as he started walking on the building's laminated checkerboard floors, he started slipping around. Unable to control his friction, he fell back to the right wall due to the floor tilting around.

_"The foundation here's about as stable as the saddle of an untamed horse!"_

Taylor slips into an elevator and tries desperately to hold on to something other than the back wall. To his chagrin, the door closes on him and he has no choice but to use his beam sword.

First, he jumps to reset his momentum, then he cuts through the elevator door before the elevator ascends. Then, he stops his momentum again by planting the sword on the ground, then swinging around and kicking through the door in front of the entrance. This before the platform tilts so far back that it actually falls off of its very thin foundation.

"Great! That settles one big issue. Now I gotta take out the other one!" Taylor says to himself.

One of the ceiling panels falls to the ground right before Taylor's very eyes.

"Who let a mammal in here that ain't human? I only called for a batch of anime girls--"

"Have you lost your way?" Taylor retorts.

Immediately, the enemy drops down on the ground. The lightly armored foe's kicks were parried by Taylor's beam sword, with the recoil knocking him back some.

_"Recalcitrant from the start. Souta by name, he was kicked out of Zootopia as soon as he said those words. He then deduced that all residents of that city were to be executed... It makes me sick worrying about it. Some of my best friends--"_

Taylor is literally kicked out of his train of thought when he fails to parry a kick to the chest.

"I'm not a Serpent, but I know how to act like one. In particular, I settled here after learning that your kind is no better than that 'furry fandom' that you run to every time you get scared. Allow me to do the honors."

Taylor's Command Dial opens up even though he is still in Operator Mode. It shows four commands, all of which are linked to the Influence.

_"I already have them? Do tell, I didn't even go Bengal watching yet! Does my rage exceed me?"_

Without warning, Taylor's beam sword extends to a length that he never thought was possible considering how it was built.

"Well, I'll just finish this encounter right now!"

Taylor spins his sword really fast and for some inexplicable reason, many breeds of domestic cat spring forth behind him from a portal and trample Souta. The finishing blow was the paws of a tiger crushing his body, rendering him unable to move.

"Impressive, wasn't it? Too bad you'll never reach that level the way you're going."

Split in half. Beam swords cauterize wounds, so Souta wasn't bleeding much. Either way, the job was done and one of Taylor's four points permanently lit up.

_"Excellent. Just three more and I'll be good?"_


	7. Polar World 3Y: Yggdrasil's Chosen(?)

A stained-glass pillar.

_"For goodness sakes, I have a key-shaped sword already. Quit rubbing it in!"_ Taylor thought to himself. _"But it's no ordinary stained-glass pillar if I came down here to fight a Serpent..."_

Sure enough, Balder[1] descends from the ceiling with his sword in tow.

 _"Hah, the last thing I needed today was a blue buff-looking wolf ready to either take me down... or take me down in a different direction. Either way, I think he can eff off."_ Taylor shook off any negative thoughts once he came into the room.

"Hey, buddy, we aren't compatible. Just wanted to let you know." Taylor said with a smug look on his face.

"Who said anything about compatibility? I'm a part of a greater whole. I just exist to beat you down for the guys upstairs." Balder said.

"So that means you're into that?"

"....." None of them could say a word after that.

Just in time for Athena to show up to drive an arrow through Balder's eye and kick him across the platform.

"This one's mine!" Athena said to Taylor.

"Yeah, well try keeping up with five of us!" Balder replied.

Freya, Odin, Thor, Sleipnir, Loki. None of them mattered to Taylor because he was after Balder. After the wolf got up and pulled the arrow out of his eyesocket ("That's gonna need an eyepatch.") he went straight for Taylor while Athena tried her hardest to contend with five different mammals at once. Sleipnir was the easiest to take out but the rest of the group wasn't as simple.

Balder was _extremely_ reflexive. If an attack could be blocked, he will block it. As such, he is one of the most feared Serpents on the team by far. Their journey up the spiral staircase was met at the top by what appeared to be a giant Image Monster.

 _"Wait..."_ Taylor thought.

"Ehecatl? From the bottom of my heart, I've missed you for so long!" Balder said joyously.

"You're talking to that lizard as if it were your father."

"So? What if I think of him _as_ my father because of exactly what he does with us Serpents? He gives us exactly what we need to get through the day--"

Without warning, Taylor ran over, slid under the giant lizard, and cut a hole in its undersides, making it fall over and bleed out.

"ALright, while that thing is bleeding out, how about we handle this like two animals competing over food?"

"...I despise you."

"And I despise your attitude and love for all things--"

"NOW!" Athena shouted from beneath the staircase.

Immediately, Taylor rushed over and saw his beam sword get blocked by Balder's double-bladed beam sword.

"To compete with a speed like yours... Not entirely out of my range. I've cut down bullets before--" said Balder.

"Enough chatter. Aren't we all in this war together?" said Taylor.

"Not unless Snow makes that call. Over our cold dead bodies would he dare declare war against Zootopia."

Pushback, followed by a horizontal swipe. Dodging, Taylor counters with a parried vertical. Balder spins his saber and nearly cuts Taylor down.

Unfazed, Taylor advances and goes for the legs. Balder kicks him away and attempts to stab. Taylor rolls away, jumps to a perfect landing, and throws his beam sword.

Balder ducks and fires one side of his own beam sword like an energy beam. Taylor sidesteps and calls his sword back. Not wanting to fall into that ruse, Balder ducks again and prepares for Taylor's next move. Catching the returning sword, Taylor is about to activate one of his powers (he is in the Polar Worlds, after all), when...

"Clear the road!"

Athena's Flare Shot - a supercharged explosive arrow straight from Robin's arsenal of anarchy - rockets through the air and has Taylor step back a few inches up another staircase. Balder gets caught in it and becomes nothing more than a charred fragment of what he once was. 

_"Enough nudity, I want to romp around in the Astral Zone, get to know a few individuals."_

Taylor was running up the stairs about to exit the realm of the Influence by the time Athena looked past the fire. She was about to tell him to wait before he disappeared beyond the portal to the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Norse Mythology this time. Can also be spelled "Baldur" or "Baldr"


	8. Polar World 2C: Cat Concerto Revisited

Taylor returns to Cat Concerto to check on something: the over one thousand types of cats residing there, in the plaza near the neon tower. They all greet him warmly (and by that we mean they're all at his legs and making a whole lot of noise).

[Taylor] "To be expected. I don't even know how they even knew I was around. Though knowing how heated that battle in the neon tower was..."

The cats all back up when a motorcycle appears out of the blue, coming up from beyond the city's outer limits. The headlight lit up and the wheels left behind dust. Out of the vehicle comes a dog.

[Taylor] "Alright, brace for impact..."

A pitbull (of course) backed by three Dobermans. The dog, Juniper by name, arrived here...

[Juniper] "...to pick up another willing recipient. This time I want somecat a little lighter than usual. The dark ones can stay."

[Taylor] "Do state your purpose!"

[Juniper] "You're not in this. I'm merely here to pick up someone who called. Someone to ride with."

All 1,905 cats in the area in "attack" stance do not help her case.

[Taylor] "So? Are you here to kidnap someone? Because I'm about to prove to YOU why I seek to guard this sacred sanctuary--"

One of the Dobermans leaps up to attack Taylor, but a Kitty Magnet stops him in his tracks. The rest chase after the rest of the cats but out of the neon tower approaches a massive lioness that quickly disarms and utterly pulverizes the Doberman. The other one appears but that one is also dealt with.

[Taylor] "Okay, unofficial guardian. But my point still stands..."

[Taylor and Juniper] "You are not going anywhere near those cats!"

They brandish their swords and rush at each other. Juniper's brash, yet powerful fighting style contrasts against Taylor's graceful, finesse-oriented style of combat.

The neon overlay transcends them both as beam sword and giant knife clash.

A dodged stab, followed by a twirling cut.

Taylor barely dodges it before he does an overhead swipe.

Juniper sidesteps and counters with a misaimed stab.

Taylor takes this chance to lop off her hand, taking the knife with it.

[Taylor] "Do you want to contend with me now?" he says with the greatest look of contempt ever crafted.

To his bewilderment, Juniper regrows her arm!

[Taylor] "Don't worry, I also have powers."

The neon flows on as Taylor manipulates the arrows in the background to attack Juniper. 

Her attempts to dodge the streams of light were constantly met by Taylor's continued swipes.

His beam sword collides with her boy, ripping her outfit and leaving nasty scars.

The neon takes them to a white room with a single cage hanging from the ceiling. It houses one small American Bobtail kitten.

[Taylor] "Well I gotta admit, that appearance is one reason to swipe it..."

[Juniper] "I embark on cat-watching just like you do! It's just that I don't do it for the same reasons--"

[Taylor] "Admit it. You do it to find your next victims. Well, just like the newspaper in a small town, kidnappings spread on the street faster than a fire in a forest."

Juniper makes one last attempt to get at Taylor. Her elongated blade is this time enough to keep even him at bay. They float around, clashing blows over and over until the scenery slowly changes to that of Cat Concerto. He decides to finish the job by imbuing his sword with Kitty Magic. This allows the weapon to pierce through anything it touches, including living things.

The last thing Juniper saw was her arm turning into coins. About $30 worth of coins drop to the ground once Juniper's pixellated heart was pierced by Taylor's strike. 

And on the flipside, the feline newcomer was saved at last.


	9. Polar World 5A: Revival?!

(Dusted Coliseum)  
  
  
Taylor, having whisked away from his old body, quickly finds retreat in a new one he crafted ahead of time going in and out of the Polar Worlds. He has named it "Astaxanthine". It looks identical to his body in World B, but with clothes.

[Taylor] "Alright, what Is God's plan for today? Go on an adventure? Find something cool? Or how about getting surprised attacked by someone I know well?"

He got that last part right. A blast of an unknown substance nearly hits him square in the head. He evades it carefully, darting around to meet his opponent carefully.

[Taylor] "New plan! Never hit me with that again. You know that's my weakness."

The opposing feline shows herself. She's one of the rare ginger-colored cats walking around any kind of world in the Cross Passing, regardless of where it is.

[Rozanne] "And now that you acknowledge it, why do you keep coming here?"

[Taylor] "Just trying to get used to it. Amphora is not exactly the poor man's element. You see, it..."

[Rozanne] "...requires a certain kind of heart to withstand. Keep telling me things I already know, you hear?"

With that, Rozanne shifts into her fur-colored armor and projects the Sovereign Sigil on the ground. Taylor likewise shifts into his (darker-colored) armor set and clashes against that symbol.

[Rozanne] "No more running away! Stand here and become strong enough to take on the threats awaiting you in the next world!"

[Taylor] "How do you know what I came here for?"

[Rozanne] "I followed you down here."


	10. Polar World 5B: The Second Doppelganger

The two trade blows from each other for a while. They then both back up when Rozanne detects a foreign presence in the distance. The floor unmoving, the coliseum breaks apart as the Taylor doppelganger from earlier shows his face. He singlehandedly displaces Rozanne to another Polar World.

[Taylor^2] "You hold the power of the Meld in your hands! I must challenge you for that title!"

[Taylor] "Wow. Never heard that one before. If you're gonna take me on, at least do it with style."

[Taylor Squared] "Okay, then. Challenge me with a Crafted Junction!"

Taylor - the real one - [summons said Crafted Junction](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er5AuSXXEAcAUU9.jpg:large). It appears to him as upgraded yet crudely-rendered versions of his guns from back home; they have the colors of the famed duo. 

Taylor^2 summons a ring portal and fires six meteorites from it. 

Taylor^1 jumps over it and clashes his foot with the other one's paw.

The lone coliseum platform rises up in the air and soars through a heavenly sky.

The two felines clash eight times while jumping through clouds. They seem to never get tired of throwing paws at the other while breathing the cold air of the high altitudes.

An incantation throws the recurring clone off, though;

"Freehand style!"

The stylus of the Meld reappears in Taylor's paw, greatly influencing his power level. A few gunshots don't hurt, but eventually he puts away the guns and unleashes his true power.

"Output: Positive. Light up the three runes, and...!"

A massive stream of light fills the air as both opponents face each other diagonally, the platform where they stood long gone. The faces of some of those back home appear briefly in Taylor's eyes, giving him the fabled Five Styles that he's been wanting to learn in World B. Literally kicking the clone's face in, he then barrages him with a combo of Amphora bursts. The Five Styles trace the powers of some of World A's best creators, giving Taylor all the strength he needs to complete his tasks.

Once the light subsides, Taylor reappears in what appears to be the coliseum... except it's completely demolished, with only the ground and part of the walls remaining. The ruins landed mere yards away from a literal cat cafe.

[Taylor] "You don't see this everyday. Might as well figure out what I'm doing next to this place."


	11. Polar World 5C: Howdy!

Taylor steps forward a few before getting surprised by a leather whip strike. Stepping around the areas where the attack is coming from, he comes face to literal face against a Custom Twoside modeled after a cowboy.

[Taylor] "You don't see too many cowboys looking depressed."

[Twoside] "Please, call me Pensive Cowboy."

[Taylor] "How about you eff off with that tacky name?"

Taylor fires one of his guns at him. 

Cowboy spins his whip, blocking the bullets.

Afterward, he jumps super high and aims more whip strikes at Taylor.

The feline's footwork evades the reckless movement of the elongated weapon and seem to decide Taylor's fate in the battle.

[Taylor] "Come on, sad freak! I've seen better performances from a jackrabbit!"

[Cowboy] "Get your optimistic self up here and fight me hand to hand then!"

Taylor jumps on top of the café and KICKS Cowboy off of it, giving him a major bruise.

[Taylor] "This particular species is quite deadly for its size. Able to jump 2.5x its height, the black-footed cat remains one of Africa's deadliest wildcats."

[Cowboy] "Shut up! I only came here to make you depressed, like the rest of our kind!"

Taylor loads a special bullet in his gun and fires it right at Cowboy's head.

[Taylor] "Remember this imprint, for it may decide the course of your fate."

Inside the bullet, ejected into Cowboy's yellow cranium, is the essence of the class of being Taylor belongs with; the Menaces of Cute. The rapid-fire motions of seven juvenile cats overload Cowboy's mind with the unbearable sensation of seeing the minimalistic features of a small animal. Unable to handle this kind of power, his head bursts into white substance.

[Taylor] "...The serval's long, slender body makes it a unique model of beauty among wildcats.... Done already? That's just the kind of cute that the average mind cannot comprehend."

Without warning, the ground underneath the cafe opens up. Beneath it is the open sky that Taylor once knew; he was seemingly above World A!

Descending onto the platform where Taylor stands is a jackrabbit with the wings of a seraphic angel. With a gaze recognizable by many, he seems to recognize Taylor's old self underneath his new exterior.

[Javier] "Apologies, Winston. I have seem to lost quite a bit of my grace."

[Taylor] "Hmmm, do I look like a Winston?"

[Javier] "Perhaps in a past life, you were. But now you have changed. Let's see how much you have."

He spawns a beam of light from his left paw and swings it.

Taylor evades it and fires a bullet at it.

Javier rises above it and slams himself on the platform, catching Taylor off-guard.

Taylor summons Cat's Meow and swings it at him.

Javier blocks the blow with one paw and kicks him away from the platform.

Feeling stylish, Javier then kicks the platform at Taylor.

Taylor grabs the platform and throws it at the cafe's underside, whisking it away somewhere else.

Javier then conjures six porcupine quills and throws them at his opponent.

Taylor powers through them with a mighty dash, then swings his beam sword.

Javier counters it with his own beam of light.

The two clash against each other's weapons repeatedly.

Taylor kicks Javier's paw, weakening it; this sets him up for a string of attacks.

[Taylor] "I call this a 'combo'!"

[Javier] "And I know that!"

Taylor's fifth hit launches Javier a fair distance away.

In response, Javier conjures a motorcycle and throws it at Taylor.

The cat cuts it clean in two and chucks the cleaved carrier at his carried-away cavalier.

Javier destroys the parts and grabs the top of a skyscraper, throwing that.

Taylor adjusts his altitude and lands on it, running on it as it passes him by. Along the way, he cuts it down to size with Cat's Meow.

Javier perfectly parries the pass and pushes the perilous partner further from his midst.

[Taylor] "You haven't lost it at all!"

[Javier] "Yeah, that's what you think. Try being absent for a few months. Really makes you cranky as all get out. ....Oh, we've hit a stopping point."

[Taylor] "How come?"

[Javier] "You were going somewhere, no?"

[Taylor] "Yes, I was. How did--"

[Javier] "I followed you here."

The cat cafe warps back around to where they fought. Taylor jumps inside of it and barricades the door with an energy field. Javier secures the entire cafe to talk to Taylor.

[Javier] "Go back there and show him what you're made of!"

[Taylor] "Who? My old body?"

[Javier] "Yes. His name is Depress:LINK. He has World B in shackles and everyone is working their keister off trying to destroy all the things in there!"

[Taylor] "Alright. There's no time, so send me--"

Javier punches the barrier, causing the cafe to fly off south of World A.


	12. Polar World 66: Route 66

At the end of the massive bridge is Taylor’s next target, a door leading to Neutral’s Domain. However, there are multitudes of Twosides blocking the path; some small, some large.

With nothing much left on the schedule, Taylor runs to his right, runs up the red wires holding the bridge up, and parks himself atop one of the support structures. Looking below him, he immediately notices dozens of Twosides climbing up the wires to reach him.

[Taylor] “Where are the anti-depressants when you need them?!”

He jumps, slides on another set of red wires, jumps again to the left, and cuts open three Twosides with a newly-unsheathed Nine Lives.

[Taylor] “Well, I’m not puttin’ it away anytime soon.”

Running forward to meet his destination, he comes across the entry point to the Domain.

[Taylor] “That was quick. I was expecting a longer Route 66, given that it’s a gigantic bridge leading further west…”

Another entity wearing white armor jumps out of the Domain and kicks Taylor upward. Soaring, Taylor then parries all three of his attacks and kicks him away. By the time both combatants land on the ground, none of them have taken a hit yet.

“Ah. Taylor, was it? You tryin’ to get back in?”

[Taylor] “Well, I got to learn from the best. It’s been too long, anyway. I need to stretch my limbs and enjoy the atmosphere. All I gotta do is forge the treaty and--”

“Woah woah woah, there dude. You ain’t going near him until that light turns green.”

He refers to the traffic light above and to the sides of the cave.

[Taylor] “Wait, him? Who are you, then?”

“I’m just the gatekeeper. Do I need to give you 128 reasons on why that’s a solid no?”

[Taylor] “Because you got Twosides barricadin’ this place? Must be depressed enough to make a children’s cartoon character sad.”

[Gatekeeper] “Nobody’s depressed, fool! Negative energy radiates here, there, and everywhere! It’s from there that the Twosides grow, and those roots are spread throughout the Out There. You’ll have better luck putting a raging bull to sleep than cutting those things down!”

[Taylor] “You forgot where I was, didn’t you?”

[Gatekeeper] “Say that again?”

Taylor conjures the Sovereign Sigil on his right arm.

[Gatekeeper] “I’ve only met one other person like that and--”

[Taylor] “Oh I’ve seen that spectacle already. Fought in it, even. You couldn’t see a tree for a telephone pole if you fought ‘er.”

Taylor then turns Nine Lives into an absolute behemoth of a blade… then destroys the path to Route 66 behind him with a single swipe.

[Taylor] “It’s either the Domain, or there’s no such thing as life!”

[Gatekeeper] “When there are risks, there’s depression. That’ll kill ya.”

  
  


The two start Teleport Dancing around each other, not landing a single hit.

Quickly as can be, Taylor tries to make a direct swipe towards the Gatekeeper.

He parries the blow and once again kicks Taylor skyward.

Taylor conjures some Ancient Egyptian art below him to keep his footing. The Gatekeeper cannot see or land on it, which gives Taylor an opportunity to surprise attack.

Jumping on the cave entrance, Taylor summons several boxes with Egyptian art drawn on the sides. Each box is cut open by the Gatekeeper.

[Taylor] “Can’t keep up with me, can you?”

Taylor was above those boxes, and before the Gatekeeper knew it, he was cut in two from behind. Taylor added insult to injury by kicking the upper torso away from his body. The color red leaks from his body.

[Taylor] “A Synth, huh?”

[Taylor] “Alright, let me know when you’re back on.”


End file.
